Wednesday, September 2, 2009

One Success. One Failure.

This coming weekend I'm fleeing to the Cleve to help my sis&bro-in-law with the little burrito & Miss L. (And I'm helping her organize, which some of you know is seriously one of my favorite OCD things to do!) To give us more time together and to give them some quick meals, I'm going to come bearing the one thing I feel that expresses true love.

I come bearing food.

In the quiet moments of a really busy work week, I've been plotting, planning, and searching for fab cook-ahead recipes that could freeze well. Of course, I headed to my Cook's Illustrated Make-Ahead magazine and found there a great recipe for Mac & Cheese--something I know Miss L adores.

When I discovered the Whole Foods app for the iPhone, I immediately found a make-ahead recipe for meatloaf, the perfect protein for Mac & Cheese. I got a head of organic lettuce and some organic veggies from our local farmer and now I've got a side salad. Perfect for one night.

But I wanted to give them something frozen to have on hand in a pinch. I bought the September 2009 Everyday Food and found just what I was looking for: a one-pot beef stew and freezes really well. Bullseye.

Tonight I made the beef stew and it looks exactly like the pic in Everyday Food, and the flavor is out of this world. I'm really really really pleased with this recipe! And it was the easiest, cleanest beef stew I have ever made in my life. This one is a keeper, for sure!

Then I got ambitious and the cookie crumbled. Literally. To further impress my niece Miss L., I wanted to make her a special cookie--a dog-shaped cookie. I have the cutter; all I needed was a recipe. I found a sugar cookie with lavender I've been meaning to try. Good.

Everything seemed to be going good until I attempted to cut the cookies. I couldn't get them to stay in their forms. And then I overcooked them. I'm thinking next time the butter should be even more so at room temperature before I begin baking. And I'm thinking I'm going to need to ask Babs, the dessert-ess herself, to oversee my baking.

2 comments:

As for your cookies, I have some thoughts. You may want to chill the dough before rolling it out - could help w/ keeping its shape. Also, maybe think about lowering the temperature or adjusting your oven racks to be in the most central spot in the oven? Otherwise, you just might need to keep a close eye on them and keep them in for less time. I also like using Silpats, but those are an investment. Everyone burns cookies though, so don't consider it too much of a fail!

That recipe sounds tasty - I have a bunch of lavendar I haven't used. I may ask you to share!